Just in time for the holidays — I am going to suggest two ways to make watercolor cards, You will end up with little watercolors that you can paste onto blank cards or you can cut them and send them as postcards — writing you message, addressing and stamping the backs. So start by working backwards: decide what size envelopes or post cards you wish to have.

I was reminded again last month of the journal of a long distance runner. That journal was described in The New York Times around the time years ago when I was trying to learn to paint. Every day after the long distance runner returned from a run, he jotted down a little bit about that day’s run. It didn’t take much time before the runs blurred together in his mind but he when returned to his journal he was able to see growth and remember things he would have otherwise forgotten.

Have you noticed how dark and rich shadows are in summer? Do you get flat ugly color when you try to get darks? How do you get colors dark enough? How do you get dark enough without getting mud or an ugly color that does not look right? Getting good darks are a natural next step to last month’s green problem.

Let’s face it — a really good set up for painting outdoors has not been invented.

You need to decide how far you are planning to walk from your car. You need to take into consideration if you are planning on flying. If you are really on the go, check the equipment suggestions in the Island Hopping class. We used this set up on a hiking-painting-sketching trip to Cornwall.